The Colorless Land

Chapter 37: A Fork in the Road

"In short," Aithal said as they walked back through the public parts of the library, "our hope lies in the hands of our enemies, and we must travel to the very Colorless Land we are trying to run from."

He said it in a tone that was almost lighthearted. "Suicide mission indeed," he laughed. "Many times have we ventured them before and escaped by the skin of our teeth. What of this one, I wonder?"

Saryana gave him a lopsided smile, though her body was tense. "You're glad, aren't you?"

"Glad? Well, maybe; glad that it is not anywhere else, further away from all our hopes." Saryana gave him a look, and Aithal sobered up. "But yes, I am glad," he said. "Glad I still have a chance to go there and continue my mission."

"We, you mean," she corrected him.

"If you'll still have me, after all the nonsense I have led you into."

They exchanged a glance that lay somewhere between fondness and mischief, the kind Jolette sometimes caught her parents doing when they were teasing each other. Then Aithal's eyes fell on one of the bookshelves, and his expression darkened.

"Book-keeper," he said, striding ahead, "have there been any news from Elodia lately?"

The old man's face darkened. "Nothing good."

Aithal swallowed. His entire body grew tense and rigid. "Tell me."

"The royal family is still missing," said the book-keeper. "Several of the nobles have formed factions to fight for the throne. They are gathering allies and soldiers. No one knows how much longer the royal guard will be able to hold the palace from the rival factions."

Aithal's face blanked. His jaw tightened.

"In short," said the book-keeper, "the country is on the brink of a civil war."

"Thank you," Aithal muttered and brushed past him in haste.

~ ~ ~

They did not gather at one of the dinner-tables downstairs at the inn. They sat together in Aithal and Saryana's room, crowded and anxious.

"So this is it," Aithal said, trying to smile and failing. "My selfishness is finally coming back to bite me, I suppose."

Saryana frowned in sympathy. "Are you planning to reveal yourself?"

"I don't know," he said bitterly, despair seeping into his voice, an emotion Jolette had never seen from him before. "All I know is that I must go there. And I must also search for the dragons in the Colorless Land, and I do not know which one is more urgent."

"You're a prince," said Zamrod.

"Yes, and brought here for this very purpose, separated from my family and my country in case this very situation occurred." Aithal barked a laugh, but there was no mirth in it. "And yet revealing myself would mean giving my family up for dead. Once I have revealed myself, I can never go back to being the hidden backup prince again. I must hold the throne."

"You've never even met them," Jolette snapped. "How can you say they're family?"

Aithal gave her a look, his usually warm green eyes flashing like cold stones. "They are my blood," he said. "I must at least meet them."

Jolette was quiet. She still didn't understand. Her father was also out there somewhere, but she had never met him. She had never thought of him as family. She had no desire to meet him either. Why would she want to meet someone who had abandoned her from the beginning?

"Besides," Aithal continued, "someone needs to take the pendants to the dragons, or accompany those who do. Who will do it, if not I?"

"I'll do it," Jolette declared at once. "Alone if I have to."